News & Announcements

Two police officers, two children, and three women were reportedly killed in another attack on Benue communities by suspected armed herders. Mr. Mamud Abubakar, the divisional police officer (DPO) in charge of the Gwer West Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, was also reportedly killed.

A source in Naka, the Gwer West Headquarters, who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that the murdered DPO and the two other police officers were ambushed and killed on Tuesday afternoon on the Makurdi-Naka road shortly after warning the military personnel at a checkpoint on the road of the presence of numerous armed herdsmen on the axis and their intention to attack the communities in Gwer West.

According to the source, “After alerting the military personnel of the presence of a large number of armed herdsmen on that stretch of road, the military personnel were mobilising to move into the area while the DPO who was accompanied by two other policemen moved ahead slowly.

“But unknown to them, the armed herders had already moved close to a particular spot at Imande community near a bridge where women sell roasted yam to travellers on the road. They shot and killed the three of them and a farmer who was at the time returning from the farm.

“As we speak the people on that axis have all deserted their homes. Though before now many had packed away from their ancestral homes when it was noticed that armed herdsmen were moving in droves into communities on that axis.”

And meanwhile, two children and three women were killed in a similar attack on the Udei and Torkula villages in the Guma LGA prior to the attack on the Makurdi-Naka route.

According to local sources, the marauders who attacked Udei on Monday at around 9 p.m. killed the two youngsters, who were between the ages of 10 and 13, while also killing the three ladies in Torkula village at roughly the same time.

“They came shooting sporadically in Udei vllage around 9pm; the people scampered but unfortunately two children were gunned down by the terrorists.

“While that attack was going on, another group almost simultaneously invaded Torkula village where three women were also murdered. As I speak to you there is tension in Guma and people in neighbouring villages are gearing up for any eventuality.”

Contacted, the Chairman of Guma LGA, Dr. Mike Uba said he was yet to get full details of the development adding, “I have already sent my Security Secretary to the affected communities to ascertain what happened and the number of casualties.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, Superintendent, SP, Catherine Anene, who confirmed the DPO’s attack and death in the Gwer West LGA, said she had not yet received all the information on the occurrence.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, office in Ojoto, Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, was attacked early on Wednesday by some unidentified gunmen.

In the same Council Area, the gunmen also targeted the Nnobi Police Station and a residential structure inside the station.

According to reports, four unmarked Sienna vehicles carrying thugs equipped with IEDs, petrol bombs, and other explosives broke into the premises at around 1:45 am on Wednesday.

Although the specifics of both attacks are still vague, a source said that security personnel managed to reject the criminals before they could do anything nefarious.

According to the source, the gunmen killed a 16-year-old boy, a relative of a police officer stationed there, while injuring another victim, a 15-year-old girl, who was transported to the hospital for treatment after suffering a bullet wound.

The Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, DSP Ikenga Tochukwu, confirmed the event and stated that security had been increased in the affected areas while the situation was still being watched.

According to Ikenga, “Anambra State Police Command today 1/2/2023 has reinforced security deployment in the state, following an attack on the INEC office in idemili South, Ojoto and Nnobi Police Station.

“The hoodlums came in their numbers by 1:45 am today 1/2/2023, with four unmarked Sienna vehicles, armed with IEDs,  Petrol bombs and other explosives, invaded the INEC office, the Police Station and the residential building in the station.

“Unfortunately, one boy aged 16 years, a relative of a serving policeman in the station was murdered by the armed men, while the other, a female aged 15 years old sustained a gunshot injury. She has been taken to the hospital where she is receiving treatment.

“The situation is being monitored and further details shall be communicated, please.”

The Muslim Right Concern (MURIC) has demanded justice for a woman who was allegedly sexually assaulted within a place of worship in the state of Oyo.

This was said by MURIC on Wednesday in a statement by Mr. Ibrahim Agunbiade, its Oyo State Ambassador.

He declared that the group will use all of its resources to prevent the case from being ignored.

“MURIC confirmed that the suspect is one Idris, also known as Kesari Rekereke,”he stated.

He said Kesari Rekereke was born from a powerful transport union figure well-known to the Oyo State National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW).

“We call for the prosecution of Idris and warn that the case must not be swept under the carpet.

“We commend the police for arresting the culprit. Justice must not only be done in this case, but it must also be seen to have been done,” he said.

Agunbiade urged the state’s Muslims to maintain peace and law abiding behavior and let the legal system work itself out.

Gerhard Ackerman, the man accused of running a child sex ring, allegedly tried to find a firearm to shoot himself because he didn’t want to go to jail. 

This was revealed in the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Monday. 

Ackerman is standing trial on hundreds of charges related to a sex ring allegedly involving the trafficking of young children for clients who would then sexually abuse them.

Ackerman went missing on Thursday after failing to appear in court. 

He had told his defence attorney that he was sick. 

However, on Friday, it emerged that he had left his home and sold his moveable assets. 

He was found on Sunday and re-arrested.

Wearing a dirty white T-shirt and short pants, with visible injuries on his knees and forehead, Ackerman listened to statements read out by the State.

The investigating team collected these statements during their search for Ackerman. 

One of Ackerman’s acquaintances, who knew him as Dante, said he saw Ackerman on Thursday. 

He said the suspected child sex ring mastermind told him he had sold all his belongings and was moving to Cape Town. 

Ackerman also allegedly said he needed a gun to kill himself because he didn’t want to go to jail. 

The trial is continuing.

Two Nigerians were allegedly shot dead in Johannesburg, South Africa at the weekend amid resurgent xenophobic attacks on foreigners in the country.

According to ICIR, on Monday, one of the victims identified as Dashu was gunned down at Midrand Hyper in Johannesburg on Saturday, but the details of the incident were still unclear.

The report said Dashu was a popular trader around the Boulders Mall area in Johannesburg and was reportedly married to a Congolese woman with whom he had two children before he was brutally murdered.

Also, the other deceased whose identity was not revealed was killed in a suburb of Johannesburg the same day after the suspects allegedly called him by name to confirm his identity.

He was allegedly shot multiple times in a blatant xenophobic attack, according to ICIR.

Recent reports of xenophobic violence and discrimination have continued to escalate in the country as migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers remain at risk of attacks and hate speech.

Under the auspices of an anti-migrant group named “Operation Dudula” whose slogan is “Put South African First”, citizens of the country have united to force out immigrants who they claim are taking their jobs.

South Africans have unleashed terror on Nigerians and other foreign nationals at various times, claiming without evidence, that they drive up crime and put a strain on public services.

South Africans turn their rage on immigrants from other African countries often resulting in violence.

In the World Report 2023, Human Rights Watch noted that these vigilante groups conduct door-to-door searches for undocumented foreign nationals, whom they blame for South Africa’s high crime and unemployment rates.

“In April, an anti-migrant mob killed a 43-year-old Zimbabwean national in Diepsloot, Johannesburg: in June, another mob set fire to the Yeoville market in Johannesburg, where most migrant shopkeepers rented stalls; and in September, a group of South Africans burned the homes of two migrant men in Plettenberg Bay, Western Cape,” the report noted.

It also said that despite South Africa’s robust legal and human rights framework on refugees and asylum seekers, its asylum management system continued to fail many in need of protection.

In a memo dated 24th August, the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria alerted Nigerians in South Africa to be vigilant and be cautious of their activities, in view of a planned attack on foreign citizens.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC’s nominee for president, has explained how his tenacity ultimately persuaded President Muhammadu Buhari to extend the deadline for exchanging old Naira notes.

However, he claimed that although the President did not accept the request for the full Naira exchange, it was still acceptable.

This was announced on Sunday, only hours after President Buhari met with Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, in Daura, Katsina State, the hometown of the former two-term governor of Lagos State.

Emefiele made the announcement to extend the deadline by 10 days from the original January 31 target date after the meeting.

During a visit to the Oba of Benin, Oba Ewuare II, Tinubu said the issue of the redesigned Naira notes and its impact on regular Nigerians has been a big source of concern for him. He was speaking in Benin City, the capital of Edo State.

He claimed it was the cause of his tardiness for the visit to the Oba before his campaign in the old town.

He said: “My coming late is not intentional.

“It is because of national politics.

“Some of our cousins, our wives selling garden eggs, carrots, roasted corn, they need money and they need Naira.

“In the process, if Naira is cancelled the way it is and we fail to intervene, we have failed in our duties.

“We have been on this for three to four days and suddenly today, when the President said okay out of great respect he will consider our request for an extension, we were happy.

“I was running back and forth on this and calling him.

“So that is what we have been doing.

“Hopefully, even though we didn’t get all that we wanted, we got an extension by a number of days.”

Prior to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) deadline for the Naira swap, terrorists affiliated with the Islamic State of West Africa Province (ISWAP) gave out large quantities of old Naira notes to a large number of commuters in the Lake Chad Basin.

According to reports, the event happened on Saturday, January 28, in Guzamala LGA of Borno State along the Maiduguri/Monguno route.

The ISWAP members were described by eyewitnesses to the media as having two gun trucks and wearing military camouflage.

According to a local, Bakura Ibrahim, the rebels stood by the roadside with bags of old naira notes and took cover under a tree.

He said; “We left Monguno at about 12 noon. As we approached Mairari, there were no existing checkpoints in the area; we were apprehensive.

“They stopped us and asked if we were going to Maiduguri, then they started giving each person 100,000 old naira notes, but we could not believe it. They gave each occupant of the Golf Volkswagen.”

Another source said;  “The group simply told us, “If you think you can go to their banks and change it to new naira, go and do so; may Allah make it beneficial to you.”

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate for president, claimed yesterday that he “rescued” Atiku Abubakar, the PDP candidate, from former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

This occurred when the Akwa Ibom State chapter of the APC gave assurances that they will support Tinubu in the presidential election on February 25.

Speaking at party’s presidential rally held at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo, Tinubu said Abubakar and his party were just about “stomach infrastructure. They don’t have a mandate, what they have is ice cream. It has melted. I am the one that rescued him from Obasanjo, who wanted to roast him like goat meat.

“He ran away to Dubai and when the election came again, he came for stomach infrastructure. He came to Lagos. We rehabilitated him and gave him a ticket but he wasted it and used it to collect money.

“He faced Obasanjo, faced Buhari and failed. He failed with Jonathan. He failed in all his subjects.

“You better watch him before he starts selling the little palm trees that you have left. What we need to do is to develop our country. We have enough gas reservoirs in our land.

“Akwa Ibom, you will not suffer again. That boy (Governor Emmanuel Udom) that brought Atiku here, that calls himself governor, tell him enough is enough. He lived in my backyard in Lagos. If not that we are one, I’d have driven him home.”

Former Niger Delta Affairs Minister and APC candidate for the Akwa Ibom North West (Ikot Ekpene) senatorial district, Senator Godswill Akpabio, earlier made a plea to party members and supporters to make sure they obtain their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) in order to help Tinubu restore the party to power.

Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General, and other prominent figures have severely denounced the suicide bombing that occurred in a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Monday and resulted in at least 59 deaths and 150 injuries.

A militant organization has claimed responsibility for the attack, which took place at the crowded mosque.

According to reports, the bombing caused the roof of the building to collapse onto the worshipers within.

In a statement sent by his spokesperson, Stephanie Dujarric, Guterres stated, “It is particularly heinous that the attack occurred at a place of worship.”

“Freedom of religion or belief, including the ability to worship in peace and security, is a universal human right.”

Guterres expressed sympathy to the relatives of the victims and wished those who were hurt a speedy recovery while reiterating the UN’s support for the Pakistani government and people in their fight against terrorism and violent extremism.

Miguel Angel Moratinos, the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), also denounced the attack and stressed that all acts of terror and violence committed against civilians or religious sites because of their faith or beliefs are intolerable and should be categorically condemned.

He stated, also expressing deep concern at the overall rise in instances of discrimination, intolerance and all acts of violence directed against members of any religious or other communities, “Houses of worship are sacred places where worshippers should be able to practice and declare their faith safely and freely.”

This includes occurrences brought on by prejudices against people of different religions, beliefs, gender, or races, as well as incidents driven by anti-Semitism, Christianophobia, and Islamophobia.

He urged governments and other stakeholders to support the UN Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites, which has been developed by the Alliance at the request of the Secretary-General. He also called for the mutual respect of all religions and faiths and for fostering a culture of fraternity and peace.

The family of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra IPOB, has expressed concern that the IPOB Leader has been complaining of severe ear pain and a recurring stomach ache.

Prince Emmanuel, Kanu’s younger brother, raised the alert after visiting him at the DSS office in Abuja, where he is now being held, and said that the IPOB Leader also claimed that the DSS had continued to deny him access to his medications.

Last Saturday, a voice message that went viral said that Kanu had been poisoned and called for violence against the Federal Government.

The anonymous charges were quickly rejected by Kanu’s brother, who urged the public to ignore them and refrain from using violence in reaction.

He stated that he hoped to meet with the leader of IPOB on January 30 to get the real picture of his health.

Prince Emmanuel expressed worry about his brother’s health in a message on his Facebook page.

The post read:”On our routine visit to see the Alpha Male, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu today at the DSS. I went in the company of Mike Ozekhome SAN.

“MNK complained of severe ear ache/discomfort which came about as a result of the intense torture meted out on him in Kenya before he was extraordinarily renditioned.

“He mentioned the DSS have consistently denied him all medical access to go for ear check up and possible surgery.

“He also mentioned the persistent stomach upset.”

Kanu’s brother expressed dismay at the degree of the Biafra cause’s betrayal by some self-centered Igbo political elite in a separate post.

He pledged to make public the names and degrees of involvement of the affected elite.

The post read, “I was chilled to the marrow yesterday when I learnt our so called handful Igbo politicians, poisoned the hearts of elder Statesmen in Nigeria never to rally round or give IPOB leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu ,the needed support.

“As always, nothing lasts forever.
In the nearest time, their full names would be published with time and dates.”